The 'This American Life' Food Tour

Last night my friend from Lawrence, Gianna, stayed the night while on the way to Maine (she's going to grad school at NYU, and her folks live in Maine now).  She listened to a Sarah Vowell book-on-tape during her drive, which was a good compliment to the dinner at Lula Cafe that we took her to (as I mentioned in the previous post, it's a favorite of TAL host Ira Glass).

Only a 15-minute wait for Margie's...on a Wednesday.

Afterwards we gave our bellies a chance to gear up for dessert with a stroll over to Margie's Candies, a Chicago institution that's been in business since 1921 (and has the interior decorum to prove it).  In 1965, The Beatles stopped there for a sundae with some girlies after a big show in the windy city.

Need. ice. cream.

We ordered a Turtle Split Sundae and Fresh Fruit Sundae and made enough mmm sounds to make Campbell's Soup Co jealous.

Doesn't get much better than homemade fudge from an 80-year-old recipe.

Gianna left this morning and is trying to get as far as Ithica today where the holy vegetarian shrine Moosewood Restaurant is located.  Again, this is another place featured on This American Life in a story about a boy who faked having vegetarian parents.  I'd say she's officially on a TAL food tour now!

It was nice seeing the lovely GiGi and having our first official visitor at our (as yet un-nicknamed) apartment!  Tonight, the Turk in me craves some homecooked eggplant with couscous and the end half of Vincent and Theo that we're in the middle of watching.

Ethiopian Diamond

(photo credit goes to Flickr member Zesmerelda)

Last night, Dave, Laura, and I headed to Uptown for delicious hands-on Ethiopian cuisine at Ethiopian Diamond up on Broadway a few blocks south of Devon.  The north side of Chicago around Devon Ave is where you find more of your ethnic restaurants such as Indian, North African, and the like.  

We ordered the vegetarian sampler platter ($15.75 a person) and drank Ethiopian beer and got totally filled up thanks to the traditional injera bread you eat your food with.  It was very delicious and had a wonderful setting and a friendly staff--I recommend it!

We ended the night with drinks at the Burlington, which is within walking distance of our apartment in Logan Square.  The drinks were good and priced right, but the music was ridiculously loud...we had to scream the whole time to hear each other.  However, there was a free-for-all candy jar up at the bar.

Tonight:  lovely Lawrencian and soon-to-be New Yorker, Gianna, is stopping over in Chicago on the way to the Big Apple and staying with us.  We're getting dinner at neighborhood (and Ira Glass') favorite, Lula Cafe, and we'll see where the evening takes us from there.

You're Going to Make It After All!

It's official--I am a Chicagoan.  Well, a newbie Chicagoan.  I moved up after months of anticipation on May 21st.  Here I am with my best friends in Lawrence, Sara, JJ, and Melissa, at my going away party a few nights before I left:

Living up here is amazing.  I went from being a full time student with three jobs living on my own in a long-distance relationship to being a college graduate with one job living in a brand new town in a brand new apartment and finally being with my boyfriend (of going on two years) not only in person full-time but as my housemate.  

My new job pays extremely well and is in radio like I wanted, not being in school anymore is a great feeling, our new apartment is huge and so charming, living with Dave is total bliss, and my new home base of Chicago is a thrill.  There's so much to do here it's ridiculous.  And it's all just a train, bus, or bike ride away!  It's also just a car ride away, but with sights like this, I'm keeping my Camry in the garage most of the time:

Anyway, I've been to many neat places (Lincoln Park Zoo, Music Box Theatre, Chicago-Turkish Festival, Printer's Row Book Fair) and have eaten at some extremely tasty restaurants (heading out for Ethiopian cuisine in Uptown tonight!)  With all of these local adventures happening nearly every day I've decided to mostly blog about them instead of all the goofy things I find on the internet (which I'm not on nearly as much anymore now that's there's so many reasons not to be glued to the computer).  Send tips if you've got 'em!  

Turk at the Chicago-Turkish Festival, May 30th, 2008

One of the giants

"Retroactive," 1964

Robert Rauschenberg, one of the biggest icons of pop art has died of heart failure at the age of 82.

Rauschenberg studied at the Kansas City Art Institute in his early years before moving on to Black Mountain College. Definitely a loss for the art world today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/arts/design/14rauschenberg.html?hp

Poor Queenie!!

Clicking this link will provide you two minutes of the highest quality talking-dogs-from-the-1920s entertainment YouTube has to offer. Seriously. Click it.

Mutluyum! (I'm happy!)

I did it!! I was finally able to write a letter to my grandparents in Turkish ALL BY MYSELF!!! (Sort of, my teacher helped me get my spelling perfect).

Here's what it says (or what it's intended to say, at least):

Hello my dearest Grandma and Grandpa, How are you? I'm very well! At the end of May I will be graduating from the University of Kansas. I'm very excited. My dad and his wife will be coming but my mom and Marty aren't able to make it. This summer they will be visiting me--in Chicago! I have a successful career in radio so I'm moving there.

As you can see, I've been learning a little Turkish...! I've always wanted to be able to write you a letter in Turkish. God willing, one day I will be able to speak really well too.

I hope I can visit you all soon. I miss and love you all very much.

I kiss your hands (in Turkish, this is a sort of non-literal term of endearment),
Rana (my Turkish middle name that my g-parents call me)

Say hello to everyone for me!

Young Gay Rites

This exposé from The New York Times by Benoit Denizet-Lewis is utterly fascinating and an important read. Please give it a click!

Fat Caturday

This is Orazi, a 35.2lb cat from Italy. At 28+ pounds over the suggested weight of a cat with his bone structure, he's the weight of a 2 year old human child. The London Sunday Mail (t.r.a.s.h.y!) featured a light-hearted article about him on their website, but Orazi, I've got some bad news for you:

As a former veterinary technician, I can testify to seeing many, many overweight cats with 'the diabeetus' and it is not cute...it's sad, especially when in many cases it can be prevented. Pet obesity is definitely not worth flaunting in articles with "aw, look, my cat's so fat he can't even get his head in the door."



Now in Orazi's case, they're not sure if his obesity is being caused by a medical problem, but I read that the Guinness Book of World Records actually get rid of their of their "World's Fattest Cat" category, as people were purposely overfeeding their cats to win the record. Yeesh.

Anyway: don't overfeed your cat. It's not cute and it should probably be considered animal cruelty. And if you're still not convinced, Wilford Brimley would like to have a word with you:


"I know who has diabeetus, and I know where they live."

Don & Sherri

This is the song running through my head N-O-N S-T-O-P right now:



"Don & Sherri (Hot Chip Remix)"/Matthew Dear

Scary Roll

No, the Scary Roll is not the latest creation by your local sushi chef. It's the newest edition to the art of Rick Rolling.

Laugh. Scream. Enjoy.